FYI: Disney made some updates to their rules

[MG3G]

The ADA relates to accommodations for the disabled person, not for their family. And Disney has no legal obligation under the ADA to accommodate every single disability, nor are they required to provide the accommodation of your choice.

Safety trumps accommodation, as it should.

Interestingly enough I just did a little bit of google searching BEFORE you posted and I found a site relating to ADA and employment AND evidently state safety laws CAN be (well not ignored, that is the wrong word) but companies can't use safety laws as an argument against employment so they can actually go around some safety laws with ADA. I think there would have to be a compelling reason obviously but ADA CAN trump safety laws in some instances it seems.... again not American and I didn't do a lot of reading just a few sites.... Of course that doesn't relate at ALL to Disney - I just thought it was interesting that ADA can negate certain safety laws.

 

[BillSears]

I would LOVE to hear from a few of the people who posted up thread that ARE in chairs full time cause for me, right now anyway, I'm just guessing what my life is going to be like.

I'm a full time wheelchair user and I carried my daughter in my lap from the day she was born until she didn't need it anymore. I've never dropped her and we've never had a problem.

As you can see it looks so dangerous!

Now I'm carrying on this terrible abuse with my granddaughter!

 

[MG3G]

BillSears you are AWESOME!!!

Thanks for the laugh! To everyone else thank you very much for the interesting conversation.

This is a bit melodramatic - lol - but if I cut right to the chase - I'm waiting to find out if I'm dying. Cue scary the duhm, duhm, duhm music.

No doctor has been able to diagnose me, none can say (so far) if I have months or years and years left. What they can tell me is they don't know, so I might as well do some "bucket list" stuff just to be sure. My own GP told me I should pray It's ok though. We will go to Disneyland YEARS before we planned and make the best of what I know will be a difficult trip for me because it's important that we go. If I have a kiddo on my lap and someone at Disney tells me to stop I'm not going to have a belligerent argument, just not in my nature, I'm also not going to be laying down rubber and ramming people either. We chose the least busy week we could, in the middle of the winter, and not too far in the future that I hopefully my condition will be the same as it is now. I'll be careful of who is around me and we'll make a wall of our own family for walking cause it sounds like I could have people leaping over me otherwise and we will just BE. DH, under MUCH reluctance will bring a stroller - I used to be the stroller pusher and we will see our little girls get princessed up and our boys fight darth vader and it will be GOOD.

 

[BillSears]

Go and have your trip! I'm sure it will be fantastic.

We discuss these fine points of the rules here on the internet but in the "real" world of Walt Disney World a CM will almost never interfere with you and your child unless they feel it is obviously a safety issue.

 

[aaarcher86]

Interestingly enough I just did a little bit of google searching BEFORE you posted and I found a site relating to ADA and employment AND evidently state safety laws CAN be (well not ignored, that is the wrong word) but companies can't use safety laws as an argument against employment so they can actually go around some safety laws with ADA. I think there would have to be a compelling reason obviously but ADA CAN trump safety laws in some instances it seems.... again not American and I didn't do a lot of reading just a few sites.... Of course that doesn't relate at ALL to Disney - I just thought it was interesting that ADA can negate certain safety laws.

The ADA has different leeway depending upon what it's about. Example: people have TONS more rights when it comes to the education system, but it's not the same at all for public facilities.

 

[SashaFarce]

I use a scooter in the parks. We recently took my grandmother and niece, rented them a wheelchair, my partner pushed them. They're both skinny enough they sat side by side. When we rented the wheelchair in the parks, we expressly told the CMs what we were doing. We had two different CMs try to tell us to remove my niece from the chair. We simply said sure, didn't try and start an argument, but then resumed what we were doing.

I'm not really concerned whether or not it breaks a rule or not. We don't let the kids ride on the scooter, but in a manual wheelchair pushed by someone else, you bet we would do it again. My niece isn't near old enough to be walking that much, and my grandmother is elderly and that might be the only big Disney trip she ever gets to go on.

For anyone, company or individual, to state that we should have to hire someone to go with us or pay to bring someone else along with us because two people might need to sit in a push chair pushed by someone else is not only ridiculous, it's entitled as all get out and speaks to some appalling truths about being out of touch with reality and finances.

 

[OurBigTrip]

I use a scooter in the parks. We recently took my grandmother and niece, rented them a wheelchair, my partner pushed them. They're both skinny enough they sat side by side. When we rented the wheelchair in the parks, we expressly told the CMs what we were doing. We had two different CMs try to tell us to remove my niece from the chair. We simply said sure, didn't try and start an argument, but then resumed what we were doing.

I'm not really concerned whether or not it breaks a rule or not. We don't let the kids ride on the scooter, but in a manual wheelchair pushed by someone else, you bet we would do it again. My niece isn't near old enough to be walking that much, and my grandmother is elderly and that might be the only big Disney trip she ever gets to go on.

For anyone, company or individual, to state that we should have to hire someone to go with us or pay to bring someone else along with us because two people might need to sit in a push chair pushed by someone else is not only ridiculous, it's entitled as all get out and speaks to some appalling truths about being out of touch with reality and finances.

I agree that most people cannot afford to bring someone with them to push a wheelchair. Having said that, I also believe that there are situations where, if the only accommodation that the makes a visit possible is something that Disney reasonably believes is a safety concern, they have a right to forbid it, even if that means that a trip to Disney is no longer possible.

As for your statement regarding entitlement, I believe that it's as entitled as all get out to state that you don't care about the rules, and that you're going to do what you choose anyway. Disney would have been well within their rights to refuse to rent you the wheelchair when you told them that two people would be using it at the same time, and they would have been well within their rights to eject you from the park when you repeatedly violated their requests to stop doing it.

 

[RubySue]

Well, I tried to stay away from this thread, but people (whether disabled or able-bodied) who feel the rules apply to everyone else, but not to them irk me and I have to get a few things off of my chest.

Renting ECVs/wheelchairs/strollers - yes, Disney (or an outside vendor) has contracts stating the rules of the rental. These rental rules are separate from the general WDW rules.

WDW is private property. They make the rules for said property. They have the right to make any rule they like (within discrimination laws). They have the right to demand that EVERYONE follows the rules. They have the right to ask you to leave their property if you can't/won't follow the rules.

The rules are in place for the safety of ALL WDW guests. The rules can and do cover personal property that people bring onto Disney property. They can tell you where and how to park your personal vehicle. They can tell you what size and kind of personal bag or cooler you may bring in. They can tell you where you may smoke your personal cigarettes. They can tell you what kind and size of personally owned ECV/wheelchair/stroller you may bring into the parks. AND they can make rules concerning the safe operation of those ECVs/wheelchairs/strollers.

Why do you think WDW has rules concerning children riding on laps of ECV/wheelchair users? Or rules about no more than one child in a stroller made for one child? Because they have many many years of experience with children being injured, and I guess sometimes injured very badly. WDW has seen it happen and because the safety of all of their guests is their responsibility, they have made rules to combat the problem.

Just because a person has "always" carried a small child on their lap in an ECV/wheelchair and nothing bad has happened, doesn't mean that it never will. That's completely illogical. It only takes one idiot at WDW who is in a hurry and not looking where they are going to knock over an ECV/wheelchair and send a child flying. In a second, that one time can happen.

EVERY family who enters WDW property has their own unique situation. IMHO, WDW bends over backwards to accommodate their guests, but they can't solve everyone's personal problems. If a person can't solve the logistics of a WDW vacation for their situation AND follow WDW rules, then maybe that person should consider another vacation destination.

 

[MG3G]

Well, I tried to stay away from this thread, but people (whether disabled or able-bodied) who feel the rules apply to everyone else, but not to them irk me and I have to get a few things off of my chest.

Renting ECVs/wheelchairs/strollers - yes, Disney (or an outside vendor) has contracts stating the rules of the rental. These rental rules are separate from the general WDW rules.

WDW is private property. They make the rules for said property. They have the right to make any rule they like (within discrimination laws). They have the right to demand that EVERYONE follows the rules. They have the right to ask you to leave their property if you can't/won't follow the rules.

The rules are in place for the safety of ALL WDW guests. The rules can and do cover personal property that people bring onto Disney property. They can tell you where and how to park your personal vehicle. They can tell you what size and kind of personal bag or cooler you may bring in. They can tell you where you may smoke your personal cigarettes. They can tell you what kind and size of personally owned ECV/wheelchair/stroller you may bring into the parks. AND they can make rules concerning the safe operation of those ECVs/wheelchairs/strollers.

Why do you think WDW has rules concerning children riding on laps of ECV/wheelchair users? Or rules about no more than one child in a stroller made for one child? Because they have many many years of experience with children being injured, and I guess sometimes injured very badly. WDW has seen it happen and because the safety of all of their guests is their responsibility, they have made rules to combat the problem.

Just because a person has "always" carried a small child on their lap in an ECV/wheelchair and nothing bad has happened, doesn't mean that it never will. That's completely illogical. It only takes one idiot at WDW who is in a hurry and not looking where they are going to knock over an ECV/wheelchair and send a child flying. In a second, that one time can happen.

EVERY family who enters WDW property has their own unique situation. IMHO, WDW bends over backwards to accommodate their guests, but they can't solve everyone's personal problems. If a person can't solve the logistics of a WDW vacation for their situation AND follow WDW rules, then maybe that person should consider another vacation destination.

I guess it's a matter of semantics - the rules say "should" not "must" therefore I think it is reasonable to think of that as being a guideline and not a "rule". I really, really don't think, although fully admit that I could be wrong, Disney's legal team would have used the word "should" if it didn't mean to open the rules to being applied differently in some situations. I am not going to try to guess at what those situations might be AND I'm not going to assume that it applies to me but I don't think they used "should" by accident.

 

[aaarcher86]

I guess it's a matter of semantics - the rules say "should" not "must" therefore I think it is reasonable to think of that as being a guideline and not a "rule". I really, really don't think, although fully admit that I could be wrong, Disney's legal team would have used the word "should" if it didn't mean to open the rules to being applied differently in some situations. I am not going to try to guess at what those situations might be AND I'm not going to assume that it applies to me but I don't think they used "should" by accident.

If one of your kids does something they shouldn't do, what happens?

 

[HopperFan]

DD is a CM who has gone through recent training on this and similar issues. She has a multi-task position and is often out "on the streets" interacting with guests. I asked her about this and she said the two main issues with mobility devices they were told to worry about were:

1) No passengers are allowed on mobility devices and it doesn't matter who owns them. They were told the black and white information to give to guests was "one passenger per seat."

2) Speed is a big concern. Mobility devices are not to go any faster than "walking pace." They are to stop anyone going faster and explain to them to pace themselves to go no faster than those walking around them.

 

[aaarcher86]

DD is a CM who has gone through recent training on this and similar issues. She has a multi-task position and is often out "on the streets" interacting with guests. I asked her about this and she said the two main issues with mobility devices they were told to worry about were: 1) No passengers are allowed on mobility devices and it doesn't matter who owns them. They were told the black and white information to give to guests was "one passenger per seat." 2) Speed is a big concern. Mobility devices are not to go any faster than "walking pace." They are to stop anyone going faster and explain to them to pace themselves to go no faster than those walking around them.

Thank you for clarifying what CMs are being told.